More people than ever are using the internet for medical and healthcare needs from remote consultations to finding the highest-rated doctor nearby, healthcare providers who aren’t focusing on the digital parts of their business are missing out and at risk of falling behind.
Why Healthcare Providers Need Digital Marketing
People today are turning more to digital means to find their doctors, look up symptoms, and find medical information. It’s crucial for healthcare providers to position themselves as an expert source of this information and to be easily findable in organic searches to remain competitive.
The most effective way to do this is through comprehensive digital marketing that covers all the essential bases: content, SEO, audience engagement, awareness, and branding. In order to stay top of mind in the heads of your target audience, you need to give them ways to connect and engage with you and have a way of tracking potential patients when they do.
That’s where the many unique aspects of digital marketing come into play.
What Makes Up Digital Marketing in Healthcare
Digital marketing is made up of many unique parts that each play a part to work toward the common goal of expanding brand awareness and building a larger customer base. Here are a few of the main pillars of digital marketing in healthcare.
Engage and Inform Your Audience with Content
With the tools available via digital marketing, healthcare organizations can more easily produce content that can connect with your audience, simplify complex topics, and build brand awareness overall.
53% of patients who did not watch a video from a healthcare provider were unaware they existed at all
Video marketing is one of the main forms of content that healthcare providers can produce to provide real value to their audience by using it to help explain complicated topics and walk them through processes that might be intimidating like how to fill out insurance forms or what to do if they need emergency care, to something simple like explaining the services you provide.
Short-form video is another great way to create content that is highly engaging and shorter videos are typically more successful on social platforms.
Whether it’s something lighthearted or a longer, more informative video, consider the questions or concerns people may have and create content that resolves their issues, keeps you top of mind, and begins to build trust and familiarity with your organization.
Build Trust and Awareness With a Social Media Presence
If you haven’t already, consider building a social media presence. Social accounts are one of the best ways to continuously engage with patients, distribute news, initiate discussions, weigh in on trending topics, and build overall brand awareness while speaking to and growing your audience.
An active social media account also helps to attract new patients. Modern consumers aren’t afraid to do their research when looking for new healthcare providers and an active, engaging social media account is a great way to build trust, present an engaging first impression, and become more approachable as an organization.
57% of consumers’ decisions to receive treatment are influenced by a provider’s social media presence
Social media accounts are also incredible ways to share the other content you’re producing like videos, blogs, newsletters, press releases, interviews, and more.
Use SEO to Improve Your Website’s Organic Reach
When seeking a new healthcare provider, the majority of people now choose to do their research online and most of those searches begin on Google which is why it’s so important to have good SEO in healthcare.
Organic search drives 3x as many visitors to hospital websites compared to non-search visitors
Creating optimized content (blogs, testimonials, videos, etc.), doing keyword research, optimizing all landing pages, and making sure your site is mobile-friendly are all SEO practices that can go a long way toward making your organization easier to find on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Create More Personalized Marketing Campaigns
It doesn’t get much more personal than somebody’s health. People have wildly varying needs when it comes to health, that’s why generic marketing campaigns targeted at broad audiences won’t always move the needle and get clicks.
Digital marketing, and an integrated CRM, make it easier to gather, store, and organize patient and prospect data (age, gender, name, location, etc.) to build segments and personas that drive highly-personalized digital marketing campaigns.
Use Analytics to Make More Data-Driven Decisions
Modern digital marketing tools track a huge variety of statistics from website usage, website users, types of traffic, engagement data, and more. These analytics can be used to make more informed, data-driven decisions both in digital marketing and in other parts of your business.
In healthcare, data collection needs to be done the right way due to compliance regulations like HIPAA which regulate the way organizations track, collect, and use data. Be sure your organization is following the guidelines to avoid violations.
Benefits of Digital Marketing in the Healthcare Industry
Effective digital marketing provides a variety of benefits to organizations in the healthcare industry and can have a positive impact on many different parts of business.
Digital marketing improves the overall patient experience with better communication, more helpful content, and a more useful website; it improves an organization’s ability to be found organically on SERPs; it lowers the cost of patient acquisition; and improves patient retention rates.
In Conclusion
To stay competitive, modern healthcare providers absolutely need effective digital marketing to ensure they don’t fall behind competitors. Providers need to engage with their audience, communicate clearly and in the right medium, and track data more effectively to help make better decisions.
If you want to learn more about digital marketing and how it can positively impact healthcare providers, check out our resource center or contact a digital marketing expert at Impact today.